Periodicals Indexing Project (P.I.P.)

In 1972, the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) created the Periodicals Indexing Project (P.I.P.) to help FIAF archives collaborate and pool their resources on film journal indexing. The main objective was to produce the International Index to Film Periodicals, based on contributions from FIAF affiliates. Originally, the P.I.P. started as an internal indexing service, exclusively serving the FIAF community, but very quickly it was made available to a much wider public. However, the vast majority of indexers continue to be volunteers at FIAF institutions.

The ambition of the P.I.P. has always been to maintain high editorial standards. The superior quality of the indexing results from the contributions of specialists based in the countries in which the periodicals are published. The indexers are not only at home in the language in which the articles are written, but they are also knowledgeable about the cinema of that country. Indexing is sent to the P.I.P. office in Brussels, where it is checked by the editorial staff against the periodical for accuracy and consistency, and then included in the central database.

These days, almost all P.I.P. contributors index directly onto the central web-based database FIAFCat, which has been operational since 2007. To ensure complete journal coverage a considerable number of titles (40%) are indexed in-house by the permanent staff in Brussels. Every year approximately 12,000 new article references are added, an impressive number taking into account that most of these contain an abstract in English.

Thanks to the P.I.P.’s publications and its partnership with prestigious distributors (Ovid and ProQuest) FIAF has become widely known outside the traditional film archive world. More than 40 years of international collaboration and expertise has resulted in an authoritative and much-appreciated research tool, the International Index to Film Periodicals, which currently offers almost 400,000 article references from 365 of the world’s foremost academic and popular film journals.

P.I.P. Staff

The permanent P.I.P. staff operates from the FIAF Secretariat situated in Brussels, which offers mutual benefits to FIAF and the P.I.P. in shared infrastructure.

Periodicals Indexing Project (P.I.P.)

In 1972, the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) created the Periodicals Indexing Project (P.I.P.) to help FIAF archives collaborate and pool their resources on film journal indexing. The main objective was to produce the International Index to Film Periodicals, based on contributions from FIAF affiliates. Originally, the P.I.P. started as an internal indexing service, exclusively serving the FIAF community, but very quickly it was made available to a much wider public. However, the vast majority of indexers continue to be volunteers at FIAF institutions.

The ambition of the P.I.P. has always been to maintain high editorial standards. The superior quality of the indexing results from the contributions of specialists based in the countries in which the periodicals are published. The indexers are not only at home in the language in which the articles are written, but they are also knowledgeable about the cinema of that country. Indexing is sent to the P.I.P. office in Brussels, where it is checked by the editorial staff against the periodical for accuracy and consistency, and then included in the central database.

These days, almost all P.I.P. contributors index directly onto the central web-based database FIAFCat, which has been operational since 2007. To ensure complete journal coverage a considerable number of titles (40%) are indexed in-house by the permanent staff in Brussels. Every year approximately 12,000 new article references are added, an impressive number taking into account that most of these contain an abstract in English.

Thanks to the P.I.P.’s publications and its partnership with prestigious distributors (Ovid and ProQuest) FIAF has become widely known outside the traditional film archive world. More than 40 years of international collaboration and expertise has resulted in an authoritative and much-appreciated research tool, the International Index to Film Periodicals, which currently offers almost 400,000 article references from 365 of the world’s foremost academic and popular film journals.

P.I.P. Staff

The permanent P.I.P. staff operates from the FIAF Secretariat situated in Brussels, which offers mutual benefits to FIAF and the P.I.P. in shared infrastructure.